Support pads for temporary retention of various articles are used in many fields of application. For example, landing or holding pads for surgical instruments are common fixtures in operating rooms, being generally placed adjacent the surgical site so that the surgeon and nurse can easily reach surgical instruments either before, during, or after use. In such surgical applications, the accepted technique for passing surgical instruments requires that the instrument be placed on an instrument pad by the scrub nurse, after which the surgeon picks up the instrument from the pad. Conversely, the surgeon is required to place the operating instrument on the pad for pick up by the scrub nurse rather than hand it directly to the nurse, assistant, or attendant. This technique reduces the possibility of skin puncture by sharp surgical instruments.
The early instrument pads were made by the scrub nurses. They would double a towel or use two unfolded towels, one on top of the other, and place them adjacent the surgical site, usually on top of the surgical drape coveting the patient. More recently, instrument pads have been fabricated from rubber, sheet foam, or a combination of sheet foam and magnets. For example, a reusable silicon instrument holding drape is produced by TAUB Industries under the trademark INSTA-HOLD.TM.. However, these drapes are relatively expensive and require sterilization and storage in a sterile environment between each use. Additionally, it has been found that the silicon surface provides only limited retention of surgical instruments placed on the pad, occasionally allowing the surgical instruments to roll and fall onto the operating room floor.
Magnetic instrument pads, are commercially available and generally consist of four components; polyurethane foam, a plurality of flexible magnets, polyethylene film encasing the magnets, and a plurality of steel shims positioned between the magnets and the foam to enhance the magnetic properties of the magnets and make the magnets more rigid. Thus, magnetic pads are relatively heavy and have limited drapability. Also, many surgical instruments are now formed of stainless steel, plastic, ceramic, composite materials, or other nonmagnetic materials and, therefore, are not magnetically retained on the pad. Additionally this pad, as a result of the required multiple magnets and shims, has significant fabrication costs and, accordingly, is relatively expensive to produce.
Surgical instrument holding pads have also been provided as a single layer of polymer foam such as polyolefin or polyethylene. These single component pads generally provided good drapability, conformity with an undersurface, and an upper surface that was easily deformed to provide a cushioned depository for the instruments placed thereon. The single layer polymer foam pads are economical to produce, but it has been found that surgical instruments tend to slip or roll when the upper surface of the pad is angled away from a horizontal plane. None of the nonmagnetic instrument pads are capable of preventing slippage of surgical instruments if the surface is tilted more than 45.degree. from horizontal, i.e., none of the non-magnetic instrument pads have a kinetic coefficient of friction (surface to steel) that is greater than 1.
The present invention is directed to solving the problems set forth above. It is desirable to have a pad for retaining surgical instruments, or other articles, in their placed position even though the surface of the pad may be disposed at an angle exceeding 45.degree. from a horizontal plane. It is also desirable that such an article support pad be readily conformable with an underlying surface on which it may be placed, and provide a cushioned, locally deformable repository for instruments or other articles placed thereon. Furthermore, it is desirable that such a pad be relatively inexpensive to produce so that it can be disposed of after each use. Still further, it is desirable to have such a pad that is readily attachable to a selected underlying surface, such as a surgical drape.